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Don’t forget the parking: Hotel negotiating tips
It’s no longer a buyers’ market for meetings.
With hotels seeing higher occupancies and rising rates, meeting planners are spending more time than ever negotiating agreements.
To get the best deals, the key is to look beyond the room rate.
Travel Leaders Corp. meetings and incentives VP Mary Ann Willingham says the best way to negotiate with hotels starts with the traditional—push your company’s meeting planners to use your preferred transient travel partners.
The negotiated transient rate is just a starting point, though.
Since groups are more lucrative than transient travelers, group business is even more negotiable.
The meals, the coffee breaks, the room rentals, even the time attendees spend at the property having coffee or buying a round of drinks at the bar add up.
And that extra business for the hotel can translate into soft benefits that hold down your meetings costs.
The best negotiators think of things that don’t cost the hotel much but can save their companies a bundle.
Suite upgrades, food and beverage, Internet charges, resort fees can all be part of the conversation.
And for city sites, don’t forget the parking, Willingham says. "That’s a hidden gem that can often save $25-$30 a day per person."
In short, Willingham told TravelMole, "in our world, everything is negotiable."
Travel Leaders was formed in 2008 by a merger of Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates, Travel Leaders, and Tzell Travel Group. It is the largest travel agency franchisor in the United States, with 1,250 franchised locations.
By Cheryl Rosen
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